


Beacon

by orphan_account



Series: snktober 2020 [8]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, M/M, only the tiniest hint of ererei
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27126679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A closet is not the most conventional of places to rest, but Reiner has little energy to care.--snktober day twenty: hope
Relationships: Reiner Braun/Eren Yeager
Series: snktober 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946416
Comments: 10
Kudos: 92
Collections: SNKTOBER Month 2020





	Beacon

A closet is not the most conventional of places to rest, but Reiner has little energy to care.

Old sweaters and dusty threadbare blankets surround him, the cottony weight of them swaddling him in a gentle comfort that he has always wanted but has never truly known. The bustle of the afternoon streets filters through, muffled and soft, unlike the overwhelming noise he has grown accustomed to. The wood walls of the closet are a solid weight against his back, unrelenting even through the cloths that shield him. 

He is a bit too large to fit fully comfortably in the closet; his legs are pulled up to his chest, and his shoulders hunch. Reiner does not mind, though. It makes him feel large, large enough to protect himself from a world that is small, weak, fragile. 

Outside is where he feels small in a world that is much too large.

Reiner does not want to get out—getting out means facing his mom, and Magath, and Porco’s jabs, and the endless battles, and the reality of the life he has been forced to live.

He is just so incredibly tired.

The years have been long, and the days longer; the wooden walls of the closet embrace him like a friend coming home, like a coffin without the commitment.

As the moments pass by in murky warmth, Reiner realizes that he is not sure of whether his eyes are closed or if the shadows of the closet have obscured his vision. Within the darkness, though, he sees a familiar bright green, the haunting color of a pair of eyes he has never forgotten.

Eren. 

How is he? Reiner wonders, trying to grasp at the tenuous bits of information he knows. Paradis is a force to be reckoned with; the soldiers they send disappear, over and over again, until it is too dangerous to send more. 

If politics are to be believed, then war is inevitable.

Reiner wishes that the constant certainty of bloodshed were more of a surprise to him. 

When he thinks back on his memories of the island, sometimes he only remembers the poisonous hatred in Eren’s eyes; he wishes that his last memory of those eyes had been when they were still filled with bright adoration and resolute hope.

There is little he wouldn’t give to be able to see Eren smile at him again.

“Reiner!”

His mother’s voice is like a beacon in the fog, jarring and sharp and painful after so long sitting without sight.

Most days, Reiner would rather go without seeing a light.

Reiner suppresses a sigh, reaches forward, and opens the door.


End file.
